Mustard & Cheddar Bread! (on Oscar night)

So, last night was the Oscars and Hurt Locker won best picture as everyone knows by now. We just kept giggling and making jokes about how Kathryn Bigelow kicked her ex-husband's tushi (James Cameron) and took home two Oscars! Well, that was fun.

For the Oscars night I had Chris and Ami over and I cooked dinner. No, it was not any fancy theme party. Since, I had some errands pending I spent our whole Sunday working it out! Due to that misfortune I could not plan anything exciting. I just ended up making this mix pot of beans and tomato puree, mustard, chicken, cheese, pastrami ribbons, you know the usual things you find around your kitchen. With that I served up some home-made bread and a blueberry and nut salad. For dessert I served what I like to call "what I like to call Baklava."

Ingredients:

• 1/4th cup warm water (please make sure the water is not boiling hot or too warm as I have learned the hard way that it kills the yeast; and you don't want to kill your sugar-loving friends)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup of warm whole milk (this means no slim milk!)
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 3 cups of bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3 tbsp Mustard
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1. Mix, rest and knead the dough:
• Mix the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and whisk to blend. The mixture should sit for 10 minutes till the yeast is active, foaming and bubbling.
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• In another bowl mix the butter, mustard and milk.
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• In a larger bowl mix the flour and the salt.
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• Now pour the yeast mixture and the milk mixture into the flour and the salt.
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• Mix for about 2-3 minutes till the dough comes together. Then add the cheese and mix for an additional 5-6 minutes.

• Cover the bowl with a damp cloth (use a lint-free cotton towel; if you do not have one use plastic wrap)
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Rise the dough - first rise:

• Lightly oil another large bowl.
• Scrape the dough into the bowl and lightly coat the surface of the dough with oil.
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• Cover the bowl with a damp lint-free cotton towel or plastic wrap for about 45-60 minutes or till the dough has doubled in size.
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Punch the dough and shape the loaf

• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
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• Press the dough down firmly so as to expel some of the air bubbles but don't knead the dough again or it will be too springy.
• Shaping the dough is complicated if I explain it through words so I will try my best. Place the dough in the shape of a rectangle. The size of the pan I used was 9 inches by 3 inches. So, I roughly spread out the dough in these dimensions.
• I then folded this rectangle into half.
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• Press the part where it joins with the heel of your palm.
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• After this, I turned the dough that currently rested horizontally and I placed it in a 90 degree position or vertically.
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• I then rolled the top end towards the bottom end using my thumbs to tuck in the dough at the seams.
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• Once, the dough had formed a roll I pinched the ends.
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Proof the dough - second rise - glaze and bake

• Lightly coat the loaf pan with oil or butter.
• Place the dough, seam-side down into the pan.
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• Lightly oil the top of the dough, to keep it moist. Cover the pan loosely with a damp cloth or lint-free towel and allow the dough to rise once more until its top is half an inch to one inch above the rim of the pan. This might take about 45-60 minutes.
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• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Farhenheit / 204 degrees Celsius.
• Brush the top of the loaf with a thin film of beaten egg.
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• Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees fahrenheit / 190.4 degrees celsius until the bread is golden brown.
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• Pull out of the oven, let it cool completely and then slice with a serrated knife.
• Done!